


Snowfall

by PlanetClare



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Conflict, Covert Operation, Espionage, Hydra (Marvel), Intel, Snowed In, Spies & Secret Agents, Surveillance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 08:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17341910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetClare/pseuds/PlanetClare
Summary: At the end of a wintery mission, Bucky Barnes and Clint Barton find themselves in a grave predicament.





	Snowfall

“So, why didn’t Fury just send a drone? I mean, I’m freezing my ass off up here,” Clint Barton moaned as he lay in the snow next to his mission partner.

“Drones can be detected. Now, will you please shut up?” Bucky Barnes snarled as he scrutinized activity outside a new Hydra facility in the Swiss Alps which was being built in a valley across from the hill that he and Clint were perched atop.

Nick Fury had been informed by a loyal agent who infiltrated Hydra that ground had been broken on the new installation, and it was under rapid construction. To gather intel, Fury sent Bucky and Clint to investigate and report back to him directly. Having ridden up the hill on Honda snowmobiles, the two Assets dressed identically in white tactical uniforms and toques crawled to the edge to observe the activity.

After an hour, Clint became bored, rolled onto his back, and stared up at the light snowfall while Bucky stared through his high-powered binoculars.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind bringing a lovely lady up here for a romantic ski trip, but other than that – ”

“Clint!” Bucky snapped.

“What?”

“Shut the hell up! Why don’t you do something useful? Here – take these,” he said handing Clint the binoculars.

Lifting one of his rifles, he took aim at the archway under which two Hydra agents stood conversing. With the silencer on, Bucky squeezed the trigger and shot a sticky capsule containing a tiny microphone which stuck to the arch. Soon, Bucky and Clint could hear what the two men were saying.

“Oh, great...French. You speak French, don’t you?” asked Clint.

“Yeah, I do. That’s German, idiot,” replied Bucky without looking at him.

“Oh...well, what are they saying?” he queried.

“If you’d shut up for 5 seconds, I could tell you.” Bucky listened intently for a few moments before translating for his partner.

“They said that the plans are falling into place. They’re going to speed up production on the facility with a view to finishing it in 2 months.” Finally looking at Clint, he concluded, “We need to shut this place down NOW. We’ve got to give Fury our report and await orders.”

“So, we’re done here? Good! I’m tired,” Clint informed his partner.

“Clint, are you even listening to me?” Bucky could feel his blood pressure rising.

“Of course,” he answered.

“What did I just say?”

“Uh...you asked if I was listening...”

Disgusted, Bucky crawled away from the edge of the hill and when he was at a safe distance, he rose and climbed onto his snowmobile.

“Oh, cool! We’re leaving,” Clint exclaimed as he followed his partner.

Before starting the engine, Bucky turned to Clint and remarked, “You know, it’d be nice if you took this mission seriously.”

“I AM serious – just not perpetually grumpy like you,” he replied.

Bucky rolled his eyes and then started the engine of his snowmobile, turned it around, and headed back to their cabin with Clint following close behind. Why Fury paired him with Clint was a mystery to the former assassin, but he knew that Fury usually had a good reason although he rarely shared it with anyone else.

Upon reaching their hideout, the two men dismounted their vehicles, removed a few white duffle bags, and entered the small cabin.

“It’s freezing in here,” Clint moaned.

“You should be used to it by now,” advised Bucky with no sympathy. “Try living in a Siberian gulag like I did, and then come cry to me, pretty boy.”  
Clint narrowed his blue eyes at Bucky but did not respond.

The two had been holed up there for three days, and both were pleased with the prospect of their mission ending so they could part company.

After placing his duffle bags on the floor in a corner, Bucky knelt and then sat back on his heels in front of a small folding table on which he placed his laptop and cell phone.

Meanwhile, Clint laid on the floor across from him and rested his head on a duffle bag.

“What the hell is wrong with this thing?” Bucky grumbled becoming frustrated with his computer.

“What?” Clint wondered as he closed his eyes and began to fall asleep.

“I’m not getting a signal. I had one before we went up the hill but now – nothing. Damn it!” Bucky snapped.

“Did you – ?”

“If you ask if I charged the battery, I’m going to punch you, Barton,” he advised sharply. A few moments later, Bucky remarked, “Wait...I got something!” and began to type at a furious pace.

Opening his eyes, Clint chirped, “Great! Tell Fury to get us the hell out of here.”

As a shock of Bucky’s shoulder length brown hair escaped from his toque and fell over his left eye, Clint wondered aloud, “Aren’t you due for a haircut?”

Bucky ignored him but tucked the hair behind his left ear revealing the serious look on his face.

“So, is this the first time you’ve ever worn white?” Clint continued as the former assassin who normally wore all black kept typing.

Finally responding but keeping his eyes on the laptop, Bucky replied, “If this line of questioning is your attempt at casual conversation, you’re failing miserably and working my last nerve.”

“Well, you know what they say: ‘All work and no play makes Barnes a dull boy.’”

Clint noted that every female agent he knew had a crush on Bucky. ‘What do they see in him?’ he wondered. ‘He’s scruffy and has no sense of humor.’

After a moment of silence, Bucky advised, “Fury says pack it up. We’ve got 30 minutes to get out of here before Fury’s agents blow the facility.”

“About damn time!” Clint yelped as he stood and started gathering his gear. “I think this mission went well.”

Bucky glared at him as the two packed up. “Of course you think it went well. I did most of the work,” the soldier noted.

“Obviously, you couldn’t spy on Hydra on your own, so Fury called me in to help you,” the archer remarked with a broad smile.

Shaking his head slowly from side to side, Bucky replied, “With an ego that big, I don’t know how you can hold your head up.”

“Don’t feel bad, Barnes. Everyone needs help now and then.”

Bucky sighed and continued to pack his electronics.

“Come on, sour puss. I’ll buy you a beer at the bar in that chalet down the hill,” Clint offered gleefully.

“I can buy my own beer,” declared Bucky. ‘Can’t wait to get away from this clown,’ he thought. When the two were ready to start loading their equipment, Bucky said, “Give me the keys to the jeep.”

“No, I’m driving,” Clint replied defiantly.

“Give me the keys, Clint!”

“No! You drove up the hill like a maniac.”

“And you drive like a little old lady. Now, hand them over!” insisted the soldier.

“Not happening,” Clint declared and then tossed a duffle bag which landed next to the door with a loud thud.

Suddenly, the two men heard a loud boom and then a rumbling sound as they felt the tiny cabin begin to shake.

“What did you do?” Bucky asked urgently.

“I didn’t do anything,” declared Clint as he stood perfectly still. “What is that?”

Bucky got a sick feeling in his stomach as the realization began to sink in. Looking out the small window that faced the hill, his blue eyes widen in horror.

“Avalanche,’ he whispered.

“What...?” Clint asked and then suddenly realized what Bucky already knew. “Wait...they blew the joint? What the hell happened to ‘30 minutes?’” he demanded.

The two men braced themselves for the impact of a ton of snow slamming into the cabin, and they stood in silence as they were suddenly plunged into darkness.

Bucky scrambled to his duffle bags and felt in the dark for an outside pocket. Pulling out a glow stick, he bent it in the center to activate it. He tossed it to Clint and then pulled out another for himself.

“I don’t believe this!” Clint exclaimed as Bucky launched his laptop again.

“Keep it together, Clint. I don’t need you falling apart on me,” urged Bucky.

Try as he might, the soldier was unable to get a signal. “Come on, damn it,” he mumbled as he kept working.

“Clint? Clint!” he barked when he did not immediately get a response.

“What?”

“Is your cell phone on?”

“Uh...yeah,” Clint responded as he pulled it out of his pocket.

“Send an S.O.S. and see if you get a hit.”

Clint placed his glow stick on the floor and began keying. For a few moments, he tried to reach Fury on a secure line but to no avail.

“I’m not getting through. Man, we’re screwed,” he lamented.

“We’ve got to keep trying. If they can’t locate us, I don’t know how long we can last out here.”

“Great...” Clint mumbled and then sighed.

The two men sat in silence – Bucky staring at his laptop’s screen and Clint staring at his cell phone. Looking over at his partner, Clint noticed that Bucky was beginning to look sleepy.

“You know, I don’t think you’ve slept in about 48 hours. There’s no point in both of us trying to stay awake. Why don’t you take a nap, and I’ll keep an eye on things?” he offered.

Bucky thought about it for a few moments unsure if he could trust the archer to stay alert. Realizing that he himself might fall asleep regardless, he reluctantly agreed.

“Fine, but we can’t afford to miss a response. You’ve got to stay awake.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got this,” Clint assured him.

Bucky reached into one of his duffle bags and pulled out two Mylar blankets. Tossing one to Clint, he said, “Here. Take this. We need to stay warm.”

Unfolding the blanket, Clint asked, “Oh, is this one of those foil blankets? How’s this flimsy thing supposed to keep us warm?”

“Just try it, but whatever you do, don’t fall asleep.”

Bucky unwrapped his blanket, spread it over himself, and lay down with his head resting on a duffle bag. Within 2 minutes, he was sound asleep.

Three hours later, Bucky stirred. He felt as though he had just closed his eyes. Sitting up, he looked over at Clint.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” the soldier asked.

“For what? Nothing’s happening,” he replied.

Bucky stared at his partner for a moment. He looked down at his lit glow stick and then at his own spent one.

“That’s not the same glow stick I gave you, is it?” he queried.

“Of course not. I don’t want to sit in the dark,” Clint replied matter-of-factly.

“Go easy on those unless you want to spend the duration in the dark,” warned Bucky.

“Sure...‘whatevs,’” his partner replied. He was going to tell Bucky that he had ‘bed hair’ but decided that it would be funny if it looked like that when they were rescued.

Noticing plastic wrappers on the floor next to Clint, Bucky had a shocking realization.

“Tell me you haven’t been eating all the food!” he gasped.

“...I got hungry...” Clint admitted.

Bucky stood and walked over to him. Snatching the duffle bag in which they kept their shrink-wrapped food, the soldier looked inside with dismay.

“Clint! You downed half the food and water!”

“Hey, I can’t help it if I’m a stress eater!”

Bucky thought his head would explode.

“From now on, if you want food, you’ve got to ask me for it,” he declared and zipped the duffle bag in a huff.

Clint frowned and then let out a deep sigh.

‘They better find us fast, or I’m gonna cut that guy for a piece of beef jerky,’ he thought.

‘Man, I was right to not trust that blonde bozo,’ Bucky lamented as he checked his laptop for a signal and response from Fury. He looked at the battery level and saw that it was getting low. ‘Good thing I brought a backup battery. No telling how long me and pretty boy will be stuck here.’

“You think they’ll find us?” Clint asked solemnly after a few moments of silence.

“They will...eventually,” Bucky replied hoping it happened sooner than later.

“Should we – ?”

“You can go to sleep now,” Bucky snapped letting Clint know that he was still unhappy with him.

‘‘Mr. Grumpy’ strikes again,’ he thought before lying down and giving Bucky his back.

Two hours later, the soldier was still at his computer working. Just as he was beginning to lose hope, he got a signal.

“Hey! I got something!” he yelped.

“Finally!” exclaimed Clint as he scrambled over to him.

After a moment, they saw a message appear in a chat box on the computer’s screen.

“You boys need a lift?” Nick Fury joked.

“The sooner, the better,” Bucky typed.

“Sit tight. We’ll have you out soon,” he replied.

Smiling, Bucky typed, “Roger that.”

Looking at Clint, he advised, “Be ready to go the minute they shift that snow.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” his partner replied agreeably.

As the two Assets waited, they could hear the sounds of digging coming from outside. In under two hours, they heard thuds against the door and prepared themselves to make a hasty exit. Just before the door opened, Clint had a sobering thought.

“Hey...what if that’s not Fury’s crew outside. What if it’s Hydra?”

Thinking for a few moments, Bucky remarked, “If it gets me out of this shack, I don’t give a damn.”

Just then, the door burst open and two of Fury’s agents walked in.

“Sergeant Barnes? Agent Barton? Let’s get you out of here,” one of the men said.

“Man, are we glad to see you!” Clint exclaimed as he and Bucky began to hand some of their gear to them.

“Commander Fury is back at the base waiting to debrief you,” the other agent stated.

“Well, let’s not keep him waiting,” remarked Bucky as he slung the strap of his laptop case over his shoulder.

With their gear piled onto sleds, the Assets climbed into the seats in front of them and followed the agents down the steep hill. Once at the bottom, the agents helped them unloaded the contents of the sleds into a van, and they made their way to a small village a few miles away.

* * * * * * *

As Bucky walked out of his debriefing session with Nick Fury, he saw Clint approaching him in the hallway. The archer tried to read Bucky’s expression but could not.

“So, is the old man in a good mood, or what?”

“Is he ever?” Bucky replied as he flipped his long hair out of his face. “Just tell him what happened from your perspective. That’s all he wants to know.”

“Hmm...cool,” Clint said. “Hey, maybe we can team up for another mission sometime – maybe someplace warm like the Bahamas!”

Smiling, Bucky turned and contined to walk down the hall. When he got a few feet away from Clint, he replied under his breath, “Not if I can help it.”

**Author's Note:**

> © 2019 Planet Press
> 
> The Marvel characters herein are the property of Marvel Comics which retains the rights.


End file.
